NEW YORK _ After her late Friday night win over Sofia Kenin on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Maria Sharapova took a little dig at Carolina Wozniacki, who had been critical of Open officials for scheduling Sharapova on Ashe when she was coming back from a drug suspension.
"With regards to scheduling, as you know, I don't make the schedule. I'm a pretty big competitor. If you put me out in the parking lot of Queens in New York City, I'm happy to play there."
After an early Thursday morning loss to Ekaterina Makarova in a second- round match on the Grandstand, Wozniacki, the fifth seed, said: "I think putting out a schedule where the No. 5 in the world is playing ... fifth match on after 11, I think that is unacceptable. When you look at center court, I understand completely the business side of things and everything, but someone who comes back from a drug sentence, and you know, performance enhancing drugs, and then all of the sudden gets to play every single match on center court, I think that's a questionable thing to do."
Then came Sharapova's dig in the wee hours of Saturday morning. "All that matters to me is I'm in the fourth round," Sharapova said. "Yeah, I'm not sure where she is."
Sharapova's match against Anastasija Sevastova in the fourth round is scheduled as the second match on Ashe Sunday, to be followed by Venus Williams versus Carla Suarez Navarro.
"The answer to that is to look at the larger scheduling philosophy," said David Brewer, the Open's tournament director, when asked about scheduling Sharapova for Ashe Stadium. "General fairness, even playing field for all players. Making sure we are putting the matches where we need to for our ticket holders as well as our broadcast audience. Given the days she was playing, she certainly fit those criteria."
He said that it did not make a difference that Sharapova, the 2006 champion, is playing on a wild card here.
